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Even though modern Turkey continues to deny the Armenian Genocide, it is an undeniable fact that the first country that recognized the Genocide was the Ottoman Empire, said Meline Anumyan, PhD in History at the meeting with journalists, speaking about the fact of the Armenian Genocide as documented in the trials of the Young Turks.

“I am talking about the trials of the Yong Turks in the military tribunals in Istanbul or criminal cases brought to courts as a result of deportations and massacres of Armenians in 1919-1921; the number of such cases reaches 63. All of those trials were based on charges of deportations and massacres of Armenians,” said the historian.  

According to the Turkologist, in 1919-1921 the term Genocide as such didn’t exist. Genocide as a term began to be used in 1948, but the trials that took place in those years, and the verdicts of the prosecution and court rulings during those trials, explicitly demonstrate that the term Genocide can be characterized by the very facts presented at those trials, she stated. 

According to the speaker, the main characteristic of the term Genocide is that it was pre-programmed by the state, and the decision of the prosecution at the main trial of the Young Turks, which is comprised of 41 official documents, stressed that these crimes were initially organized by the government and the party of the Yong Turks. 

Meline Anumyan noted that out of 63 court cases the most important case was the trial of the Young Turks party and government members from 28 April to 05 July 1919, during which the court in absentia sentenced Taleat, Enver and Jemal to death. Charges were also brought against Doctor Nazim who together with others is considered one of the main perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide.

Asked whether in Turkey they remember that it was them who back then condemned the perpetrators of the Genocide, Meline Anumyan answered, “Up until 2005 Turkish official historiography was trying to speak about this as little as possible, however Turkish historian Taner Akcam who lived in Germany, as well as prominent genocide scholar Vahakn Dadrian had already started publications on this topic. When the Turks got convinced that it is not possible to go on hiding the fact of these trials, they adopted another strategy.”
 
Anumyan noted that in 2005 a Turkish historian, following the orders of the Turkish Historical Society, which is the leading mouthpiece of Turkish official historiography, published a book in Ankara dedicated to these trials of deportations and massacres of Armenians; this book was of course written with the purpose of denying and covering up the historical reality, and it contains many distorted facts.